Door Industry Journal - The Voice of the UK Door and Gate Industry is an independently produced trade journal, published for the garage, industrial, doorset, entrance and fire door, security, lock, ironmongery and automated gate industries.

Sunday, 4 December 2016

Boxing legend Henry Cooper’s Ferrari is Goin' under the ’Ammer at Coys auction in London

International auctioneers Coys are putting under the hammer a Ferrari owned by British boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper OBE along with over 40 classic and sports cars at their yearly True Greats auction on 5th December at the Royal Horticultural Society in London.

The 1973 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 was owned in the early 1980s by Henry Cooper, famous for the power of his left hook, “Enry’s ‘Ammer“, and his knockdown of a young Muhammad Ali on 18th June 1963.

Coys took the car to the Fellowship Inn on the Bellingham estate in South London, where local boy Cooper lived and trained before the fight with Ali, and caught the attention of locals who turned out to see it, take pictures and share stories about the boxer.

'Enry later became friends with The Greatest, who admitted he was hit so hard that fight that “his ancestors in Africa felt it.” Following his retirement from the sport, he continued his career as a television and radio personality and to date remains the only boxer to be awarded a knighthood.

Chris Routledge, CEO of Coys, said:

“He loved his cars, was a great motorsport enthusiast and at one point even did some club racing alongside his great friend Graham Hill. Known as Enry’s Ferrari by various marque specialists, the provenance of this car makes it a sound investment and could be the ideal Christmas treat for discerning collectors.”

The Fellowship Inn, now in semi-derelict condition, is set for a £4m restoration with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to bring it back to its former glory.

Councillor for Lewisham Alan Hall said:

“The project will secure the future of the community pub while creating more than 70 jobs and lots of training and volunteering opportunities. Henry Cooper is a Bellingham local legend, it was great to see the car back in the area where he grew up and the interest it created amongst locals - hope it’s a knock out sale!”

The Councillor brought a model of a statue of Sir Henry Cooper that the Members of the London Ex-Boxers Association are planning to erect in Bellingham in 2017 in recognition not only for what he achieved in boxing but for the great contribution he made to many charities and more important as an example to young people. Coys will auction the model statue to raise funds for the London Ex-Boxers Association. The reserve is £1,000 - dig deep, it’s for charity!

The car is one of only 55 right hand drive examples produced. Under the bonnet, Ferrari squeezed in their 4.4 litreV12 unit producing 400 bhp at 7,000rpm, making it, at the time, the world’s most potent full four-seater. Despite its 1,450kilos, the car sprinted from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.4 seconds and was capable of a top speed of 165 mph. The V5 shows Henry Cooper as the keeper, listing his home address in Hendon, North London. It is estimated at £55,000 to £70,000.

The auction also features a number of highly sought after Ferraris including a 1979 512 Berlinetta Boxer (estimated at £200,000 to £250,000), a 1968 330GTC Berlinetta (£550,000-£600,000), a 1972 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder (£500,000-£600,000), an original right hand drive 1974 246 GT – E series (£270,000-£300,000), a 2005 430 (£65,000-£75,000) and a 2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello ex- Maranello press car at no reserve.

Also on offer is a rare 1969 Porsche 911 S/T raced by Kent Frohde in the Swedish racing series in the early 1970s. The car was manufactured as a normal S by the factory and duly sent to the Werks Porsche Competition Department who converted it into S/T Specification straight from the production line. It was sold to Frohde on 22th September 1971 and the engine - an original 2 Litre – was tuned to 242bhp. According to Frohde, this was the strongest 2 litre engine that Porsche had tuned at the time. This is one of the most sought after 911s in the world and surely worthy of a place in any Porsche museum or at any significant worldwide motoring event. It is estimated at £700,000 to £900,000.

Low Cost and Free Publicity - Your company can easily benefit from some publicity like this in return for a contribution towards our layout costs (£35 to £55 plus VAT), payable via PayPal or credit card or receive the service absolutely free of charge if you advertise (see below).

We post articles up to twice a day and never delete them - we only archive them each year so that they continue to remain visible to search engines.

To have your story published - just send us your news item, logo and image(s) and we will review the material, make any necessary changes to the wording / wordcount and then advise you when it will be published.

If you take display advertising or product and literature features in our printed and online publications, you will qualify for regular free postings on this blog while you continue to advertise with us.